


Is Something Burning?

by matimae



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Fire, Gen, Heat Stroke, Trapped In Elevator, Whump, Whumptober 2020, heat exhaustion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-14
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:34:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27018145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matimae/pseuds/matimae
Summary: Mulder picks the perfect day to ride the elevator alone...
Comments: 2
Kudos: 7
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	Is Something Burning?

**Author's Note:**

> written for whumptober no.14 (heat exhaustion, fire)

Mulder smelled what he thought was coffee waft through the halls of the FBI building. He was pouring over files on his desk, not expecting to break anytime soon.

The smell was getting stronger and it was getting more distinctly a smoke smell- and less of just an early morning coffee left on the stove. Enough that Mulder had noticed and was getting curious if it was anything to be concerned about.

He rearranged one last file and made it into a stack for later, he’d finish this up when he figured out what was making the place smell like smoke.

As he left his cramped little office he ran into a coworker, he hadn’t seen her around much, she must work on a higher floor. He cursed himself for not remembering her name but made conversation anyway.

“Hey, is something burning? Do you smell that?” he asked her simply.

She furrowed her brow. “You know...Now that you say something, I _do_ smell something off. Who can say?” She laughed and continued on her way, leaving Mulder bewildered how anyone could be so temperamental about the possibility of fire.

Maybe he was just paranoid, he always had a thing with fire. Maybe someone did just leave the coffee on the stove too long.

Still, he made his way to the elevator. He’d just go up one floor and ask around- just to set his mind at ease.

He rocked back on his heels as he waited for the elevator to arrive on his floor. The ever-familiar ‘ding’ of the open doors arriving made him look up from the stray piece of carpet that had caught his eye.

Mulder entered, quickly pressing for the floor above him. He wasn’t really in a rush, it was just, he couldn’t shake this feeling. Like something was just around the horizon. Something bad.

He swallows and tries to shake the feeling off.

The elevator starts up and whirs as it begins to ascend upwards before it lurched and Mulder stumbled in place.

“What the hell?” he said, to himself he supposed. “Anyone out there?”

Panic starting to rise in his chest Mulder looked around the small encasement. The emergency lights dousing the whole room in an unnatural red glow.

So, he definitely should have trusted his gut- because something was terribly wrong.

_Probably should’ve just stayed at his desk too…._ He thought, pulling on his collar as the claustrophobia was beginning to set in.

“Hello?” he called, praying that someone was walking past and would hear him.

Walking to the sliding doors he put his hand against it and immediately pulls it back with a small yelp.

“Shit- ah!”

Mulder looks over his reddened hand, still stinging from the scorching touch of the elevator walls.

Dread dropped down from Mulder from his heart to his toes as he realized just what that meant for him.

_There must really be a fire._

Closer then he thought if the elevator was so hot.

Mulder spirals back and begins to hyperventilate, leaning onto the floor, which thankfully was still cool, to breathe in deep breaths.

He fumbles in his pockets, looking for his cell phone, only to remember that it was still sitting innocently next to his stack of files on his desk in his office.

“Hello! I need help here!” he continued to shout, sweat now bubbling upon his forehead. Was it just his nervousness or was it actually getting hot in here?

Was he truly going to die, alone, inside a burning coffin? His worst fear on the other side of those two metal doors?

Mulder sits down in the middle of the floor, his hand wiping the constant stream of sweat. He unbuttons the top two buttons of his shirt, massaging his neck, wishing desperately that the air would become easier to breathe.

The heat irradiating from the sides was becoming almost unbearable, it was all Mulder could do was to stare up at the closed doors, imagining them opening at any moment.

“Help...” he croaked, his voice getting weaker, now barely above a whisper. “Please...someone...”

Mulder doesn’t remember when exactly the heat exhaustion won him out, but he knows that at one point his eyelids are too heavy, the air is too dense and his throat is thick, and he just can’t fight it all anymore.

Everything is hot.

Way too hot.

In and out of consciousness he focuses on the emergency red lights of the elevator, only to be replaced by the blackness of his own mind a minute later.

“Sir- Are you okay?”

The muddled voices came from above him and Mulder didn’t have the energy to lift his head to see.

“Can you hear us sir?” the voices continued.

Mulder strained to look up from his puddle of sweat on the floor. “H’lo?” he grimaced.

“We’re coming down to you- just stay there.”

Mulder took that as a cue that he could slump back down to his position on the floor- his head didn’t feel so good being high up.

The fire-fighters had pried the door open and were lowering themselves down into the elevator to retrieve the Agent.

Sweat plastering his hair against his head and his skin dangerously pale, they attached a small harness around him to pull him out, still in no condition to even stand for himself.

Outside of the boiling prison that Mulder had come to know as hell in the past few hours, he was immediately escorted out of the building.

Mulder smiled at the wind blowing in his face, something he would never take for granted again.

“It looks like you had a heat stroke, we’ll get you checked out here- then take you to the hospital.” said one of the firemen.

Mulder nodded. The more fresh air he got was already helping clear his mind, though he still was wobbly. “What happened?”

“One of the protective coatings on the wires of the elevator was out of date- completely rubbed raw. It caught at the base and it wouldn’t have been so bad it the whole thing wasn’t so old. Fire spread pretty quickly. You were just the unlucky fellow to have been caught just at the wrong time!”

So, it was him trying to find a problem is what got him right in the middle of it...

“Yeah… Guess I’m never forgetting the age-old rule about using stairs during a suspected fire!” Mulder joked.

Time to call Scully, if the office hadn’t already… Who knew her day off would be so exciting!

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!! <3 <3


End file.
